Feeding Seaweed to Cows can reduce their methane emmisions by 99% - Polidicks

[QUOTE]Seaweed could hold the key to cutting greenhouse gas emissions, one cow burp at a time. New research carried out in north Queensland could drastically reduce the impact the agricultural industry has on the global environment. Professor of aquaculture at James Cook University in Townsville, Rocky De Nys, has been working with the CSIRO studying the effects seaweed can have on cow's methane production. They discovered adding a small amount of dried seaweed to a cow's diet can reduce the amount of methane a cow produces by up to 99 per cent. "We started with 20 species [of seaweed] and we very quickly narrowed that down to one really stand out species of red seaweed," Professor De Nys said. The species of seaweed is called asparagopsis taxiformis, and JCU researchers have been actively collecting it off the coast of Queensland.[/QUOTE] [url]http://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2016-10-19/environmental-concerns-cows-eating-seaweed/7946630?pfmredir=sm[/url]

I assumed this meant replacing their diet with all seaweed but it's only mixing a bit in. That's crazy.

Wow that's crazy. Hopefully it's not either dangerous for the animals in some way, or prohibitively expensive. Methane from Agriculture is a huge deal. Generally having people promote vegetarian or vegan diets as a means of reducing greenhouse gas emission. If this holds up we could have our steak and eat it too. Article says it works for other animals too.

If this works without adverse effects and can be implemented in large scale, it is a huge deal. These kind of emissions make up a significant portion of humanity's climate impact.

The hard part will be getting it in the diets of grazing cattle, aka getting it to grow and have them eat it.

[QUOTE=Silence I Kill You;51227015]The hard part will be getting it in the diets of grazing cattle, aka getting it to grow and have them eat it.[/QUOTE] You gradually flood the fields inch by inch until your cows evolve into whales.

Seaweed dries and keeps for fucking ever, and it seem like they're just sprinkling it over the top of their normal food. Lots of places in south east asia already grow seaweed for human consumption, it shouldn't be too difficult to adapt this process for this particular species of seaweed. This could be potentially be very good for the environment.

[QUOTE=OvB;51226980]Wow that's crazy. Hopefully it's not either dangerous for the animals in some way, or prohibitively expensive. Methane from Agriculture is a huge deal. Generally having people promote vegetarian or vegan diets as a means of reducing greenhouse gas emission. If this holds up we could have our steak and eat it too. Article says it works for other animals too.[/QUOTE] [URL="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asparagopsis_taxiformis"]If this is the same stuff[/URL], it's pretty tasty. It's relatively pricey, but that shouldn't be an issue if people start growing it for use in livestock feed.

Does it work for humans?

[QUOTE=Talishmar;51227122]Does it work for humans?[/QUOTE] Apparently not, we don't have the same bacteria for it to work.

It's quite the shame that the CSIRO is doing shitloads of great work like this, but have had their budget repeatedly slashed because they have the balls to believe in climate change with the current government in power.

[QUOTE=FlandersNed;51227169]Apparently not, we don't have the same bacteria for it to work.[/QUOTE] Lets hope that these bacteria aren't vulnerable to the usual antibiotics we feed to cattle.

I swear, algae is the cure to fucking everything. Oil? Algae. Climate problems from said oil? Algae. Algae is like the nanotubes of the natural world. :v:

[QUOTE=JoeSkylynx;51227222]I swear, algae is the cure to fucking everything. Oil? Algae. Climate problems from said oil? Algae. Algae is like the nanotubes of the natural world. :v:[/QUOTE] Algae is one of the first primordial lifeforms that bloomed on Earth. They reproduce and adapt to many situations, and are plentiful for research. We come from clay, we return to clay.

holy shit thats amazing, methane emissions from cows are on the rise in recent years as oil field emissions have been dropping

[QUOTE=OvB;51226980]Wow that's crazy. Hopefully it's not either dangerous for the animals in some way, or prohibitively expensive. Methane from Agriculture is a huge deal. Generally having people promote vegetarian or vegan diets as a means of reducing greenhouse gas emission. If this holds up we could have our steak and eat it too. Article says it works for other animals too.[/QUOTE] As long as there are no major side effects, the biggest hurdle will be scaling up production of the seaweed to match the livestock industries which will be a [i]huge [/i]feat. I live in a valley with a dominant dairy industry, so every winter when we get some inversion going on, the air quality becomes horrendous. I'd be very interested in seeing what impact this finding would have here.

Every time I see a discovery like this I think of this image: [t]http://66.media.tumblr.com/163af55d88bfdf9acd13414ff67c566a/tumblr_n5xq8yJPl91qckp4qo1_500.png[/t] Here's hoping people actually get on board with this. Seems like a great idea.

[QUOTE=OvB;51226980]Wow that's crazy. Hopefully it's not either dangerous for the animals in some way, or prohibitively expensive. Methane from Agriculture is a huge deal. Generally having people promote vegetarian or vegan diets as a means of reducing greenhouse gas emission. If this holds up [B]we could have our steak and eat it too[/B]. Article says it works for other animals too.[/QUOTE] Well not quite because food from livestock is still extremely energy inefficient and requires so much land that vast areas have been converted into farmland, resulting in mass extinction as well as a host of other issues.

[QUOTE=Silence I Kill You;51227015]The hard part will be getting it in the diets of grazing cattle, aka getting it to grow and have them eat it.[/QUOTE] Well, usually with cattle, Half of the year usually has them grazing, and the other half of the year usually is feeding them hay or other stuff to keep them ok through late fall and winter. You could possibly mix the seaweed with the food during the winter. So you can cut at least a 1/2 of the methane emissions. Or possibly mixing whatever in the seaweed that causes this with salt and mineral. They can consume it during the summer.

if we can cut methane emissions from cows by 99%, that means we can have 100 times as many cows

Good news!

This and the story about how we can turn CO2 into ethanol gives me a lot of hope for our future. Keep it comin', science!

[QUOTE=Sobotnik;51228258]if we can cut methane emissions from cows by 99%, that means we can have 100 times as many cows[/QUOTE] well then you need 100 times the food and water for the cows, grazing area, gallons to hold their milk, milking equipment. On the other hand, bulls would be very happy about it

[QUOTE=V12US;51227042]You gradually flood the fields inch by inch until your cows evolve into whales.[/QUOTE] ? [t]http://i.imgur.com/59ZCGoX.jpg[/t]

so, after polluting seas we going to use sea weeds to feed cows to eat theirs meat and drink the milk ... seems like plan ... now what's interesting, we had this huge halo and resolutions and treaties about ozon layer, air pollution, greenhouse gasses ... yet I don't remember any such initiative about keeping oceans clean like start ensuring the 'pollution' in rivers starts to decrease rapidly worldwide ...

Oh god, this article made my fucking day. :v: With how ridiculous it is.

Seaweed is fucking delicious

I'm really liking this year now. Those silkworms, now cows and it's got me wondering what next?

nobel prize for the poor guy who had to measure cow farts

[QUOTE=Dwarden;51228670]so, after polluting seas we going to use sea weeds to feed cows to eat theirs meat and drink the milk ... seems like plan ... now what's interesting, we had this huge halo and resolutions and treaties about ozon layer, air pollution, greenhouse gasses ... yet I don't remember any such initiative about keeping oceans clean like start ensuring the 'pollution' in rivers starts to decrease rapidly worldwide ...[/QUOTE] Do you never eat fish?